Australian Government to let export ship sail despite overwhelming evidence of cruelty

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The RSPCA is shocked to learn that the Australian Government has granted a permit to the live export company at the centre of tonight’s scandal to set sail in a few days with tens of thousands more Australian sheep on-board.

All exporters, not just Emanuel Exports, routinely crowd sheep into pens – with no room for them to lie down or be able to easily access feed and water. Sheep suffer terribly on every journey.

In the evidence gathered from the Emanuel Exports ship, thousands of Australia sheep died and tens of thousands more suffered across multiple voyages: essentially cooked alive, thrown overboard alive, starved and dehydrated, buried in their own waste, unable to stand and unable to move.

RSPCA Australia CEO Heather Neil has tonight written to Agriculture Minister David Littleproud to voice the organisation’s grave concern over the alarming determination to allow the shipment to proceed despite overwhelming evidence of the failure of the Standards.

“From decades of experience with the live export industry and sitting at the table during the development and review of ASEL, we are convinced that it would be absolutely impossible for the ‘additional specific conditions’ outlined by the Department to be sufficient to meet the animal health and welfare outcomes required under the Export Control (Animals) Order 2004” stated the letter.

“It also defies belief that anyone in the Department could form the view that Emanuel Exports could adequately meet the conditions outlined in the letter of 5 April 2018 from the Department, and protect the welfare of sheep to a level expected by the Australian community,” said Ms Neil, in the letter.